The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure. Accordingly, such statements are not intended to constitute an admission of prior art.
Powertrain systems of vehicles may employ engine autostopping strategies to shutdown an engine when a vehicle is stopped. For instance, when a vehicle is stopped at a traffic light and an operator of the vehicle has a brake pedal depressed, a fuel cut-off event can be performed where the engine is automatically stopped and shut down. These autostopping strategies improve fuel economy due to the engine not operating fueled to maintain an idle speed while stopped. When vehicle motion is desired, the engine can be automatically started to provide motive torque to the drive wheels.
It is known, to utilize an electric starter motor to crank an engine of a powertrain system during engine start events. Electrical energy is required from an energy storage device, e.g., battery, to supply the starter motor for cranking the engine. The battery's discharge power capability can be estimated to determine if the battery is available for performing an autostart event. The battery's discharge capability can become too low for performing autostart events when the battery is cold or when high internal resistance exists due to aging. As such, control systems of the powertrain system may not permit autostart events when the battery discharge power capability is too low.